Microscope
Part V - Congo Red
By Squid
Microscope
Part V - Congo Red
By Squid
Gingetsu had never told him not to do anything before.
"You should drink less coffee." He said in the morning, as Lan trooped out of the kitchen carrying two mugs of coffee.
Lan had been mildly surprised. He poured away the coffee and drank cranberry juice instead, and because Gingetsu was watching, he ate a slice of wheat toast. And yoghurt with chopped fruit.
Gingetsu did not leave the house until Lan had finished his yoghurt.
When the door closed, Lan laughed softly to himself. He pushed up his glasses, which were falling off his nose, and began to clear the breakfast things.
It suddenly seemed a little too quiet, so he switched on the music, and the sound travelled from the living room to the kitchen, where he was washing the dishes.
Lan had tried composing music of his own. He wasn't entirely satisfied with a part of it, and replayed the tune over and over again while he tweaked at it.
He ran clean water over the dishes, paused the music, rewinded a few bars, and played it again. There was still something not quite right about it.
He placed the dishes and cutlery on the rack, and wiped his hands. He changed the tune a bit, but it sounded worse. He switched it off, and looked out of the window.
The sky was tinged red. Lan wondered if it was going to rain later that afternoon. He wondered whether Gingetsu had gotten to work yet.
His slides were waiting.
Lan had pricked his finger with a needle earlier in the morning, and smeared blood on three separate slides, allowing them to dry while they had breakfast, before Gingetsu left for work.
They were dry when he came back, and he dipped them in a stain he had prepared, based on the list he had found in one of the books Gingetsu had given him. After half a minute, he took them out and immersed them in a dish of deionised water for another half a minute.
He slipped the coverslips on, and they were ready.
Lan had to report to the Wizards regularly. He had done that yesterday night, plugging into Gingetsu's connection as usual.
They told him that A asked to talk to him.
"Do you wish to speak to him, Lan?"
He wanted to. But he was afraid. So he refused.
The Wizards never granted Clover wishes.
Not unless it was the last thing they could do for them.
Lan put a slide under the microscope.